﻿The Burger Wars Big, juicy and bursting with flavor:
nothing beats a burger that's worth its buck. No matter where you are in the world,
you can count on a burger to make you feel at home.
With nearly every fast food joint serving up their own versions of the world’s most
popular comfort food, how do you pick a winner? Like every other industry in the world, the fast
food business has also seen its fair share of rivalries - but the long standing battle between
the burger joints McDonald’s and Burger King is one of the most delicious of all time!
For nearly 60 years, McDonald’s and Burger King have been trying to out-do each other.
But how exactly did this ‘burger war’ start? And how has it managed to go on for so long?
Let’s find out! This is Planet Biz.
The Early Days
While both McDonald’s and Burger King are incredible fast food giants now,
both the chains started from humble beginnings. Burger King started off in 1954
in Florida while McDonald’s started running a year later in California. With McDonald’s and
it’s signature burger, the Big Mac and Burger King’s Whopper, both the joints took over the
fast food landscape pretty effortlessly. By the 80’s, burgers had become the number one fast food
choice for children and adults alike. Specially in the United States, burger chains were popping up
left right and centre. Places like Wendy’s, Hardee’s and In-N-Out were all quickly becoming
fan favourites. But obviously, McDonald’s and Burger King were at the forefront of it all!
But, with so much competition, the 80s was also a time when Burger companies started investing
millions of dollars into marketing campaigns to make their product stand out - and that was the
beginning of the Burger War. The First Strike
Both McDonald’s and Burger King were already using unique marketing campaigns to promote their chains
nationally and internationally. Till the late 1970s, both the restaurants were using positive
campaigns like McDonald’s introduction of their Happy Meals and Burger King’s famous ‘Have it
Your Way’ Slogan. However, in 1980, Burger King decided to make the first offensive move - which
then led to a string of aggressive campaigns from both the chains. Burger King, despite
being smaller than McDonald’s, targeted the franchise for their fried burgers, claiming that
Burger King’s flame broiled burgers were far more healthy. Now obviously, McDonald’s wasn’t going
to let this one go and actually filed a lawsuit against Burger King for false advertising.
The lawsuit, however, was dismissed. So, McDonald’s tried to attack Burger King by
releasing a brand new burger to compete with The Whopper, called the “McDonald’s Lettuce
and Tomato” or the “McDLT”. But sadly, even after the chain spent over $100 million USD on the McDLT
campaign, the burger wasn’t nearly as popular as Burger King’s Whopper. And to top it off, Burger
King once again released an ad that targeted McDonald’s for their poor quality burgers. At the
same time, Burger King would often partner with popular movies and then feature the characters
on their collectible cups, it was one of the many ways they kept you coming back for more.
The Competition Heats Up Now, while all of this rivalry was unfolding
between these two industry giants, Wendy’s decided to step into the world of competitive
advertisement as well. In the restaurant’s 1984 campaign ‘Where’s the Beef’, Wendy’s targeted
both McDonald’s and Burger King, claiming that their burgers were all bun and no beef, while also
claiming that burgers at Wendy’s contained more beef than both of these chains combined.
The slogan was a huge hit and Wendy’s even started putting out merch that said ‘Where’s
the beef’ - giving McDonald’s and Burger King a huge run for their money. After that, the three
joints constantly tried to one-up each other with marketing campaigns worth millions of dollars.
However, Burger King and McDonald’s profits remained far higher than those of Wendy’s.
But by the mid 80s, this Burger War had started to financially affect all the chains involved.
Wendy’s reported its first quarterly operating ever. Even smaller chains like Hardee’s had to
limit geographical expansion to keep up with the industry’s marketing campaigns.
But not just that, Burger King actually had to lay off more than a hundred employees from
their corporate headquarters in Miami. However, McDonald’s was the only joint that seemed to be
doing well. Their market share was steadily growing and so was the restaurant’s operating
revenue - leading people to believe that the Burger Wars finally had a winner.
Revival Of The Burger Wars At the end of the decade,
the Burger Wars significantly died down and the marketing was toned down several notches. But
the peace was relatively short lived. In the early 2010s, the Burger Wars were re-ignited once again
because of the economy. The competition between Burger King and McDonald’s was more fierce than
ever this time around. Because now, the companies really had to convince the people that their
taste was worth the money. However, this time Wendy’s was at a headstart after bringing back
the ‘Where’s the Beef’ campaign in 2011 However, right after that, Burger King decided
to revive the original burger wars by hitting McDonald’s where it hurts. This was during a time
when McDonald’s wasn’t doing so well in terms of sales. Even after introducing products like apple
pies and mighty wings - no one really seemed to be interested. People seemed to think that McDonald’s
was overcomplicating their menu and that was putting their business at risk.
Burger King Strikes Again
So, Burger King decided to take a chance and introduced their ‘Big King’ to serve
as a competition for the famous ‘Big Mac’, even going as far as to compare the two burgers in
marketing campaigns. And that’s not all, Burger King also came up with their own BBQ Rib Sandwich
that was half the price of a ‘McRib’. And to hit the final nail on the coffin,
Burger King introduced their own version of a Happy Meal and claimed that it was far more
healthier than anything at McDonald’s. All of this helped Burger King redeem its image - and sales,
contributing to the sales declines at McDonald’s even further.
A year later, Burger King’s marketing campaigns were still in full swing.
And that’s when they decided to launch their ‘Peace Day’ campaign where they publicly
reached out to McDonald’s to combine their two signature burgers and create what they called
a ‘McWhopper’. However, McDonald’s rejected the offer - much to everyone’s disappointment.
The War Continues Even though the Burger War has toned
down a bit, it definitely hasn't stopped. Around 2018 during the SuperBowl, Wendy’s attempted to
mock McDonald’s once again by claiming that the chain used frozen beef for their burgers.
And in 2019, McDonald’s poked fun at Burger King by putting up a billboard that said ‘Served by a
king or served as a king?’ , referring to their rival burger joint’s name. The campaign talked
about how McDonald’s offered a table service that brought the menu to their customers.
It wasn’t long before Burger King decided to respond and put up a sign of their own saying
‘Why try to roast when you can’t even flame grill’ - taking everyone back to the first ever
Burger King campaign against McDonalds. In November 2020, Burger King decided to bury
their long term hatchet with McDonald’s in the light of the pandemic and encouraged
people to order from McDonald’s - and all of their other rivals in order to support their
staff during this time. The Future of Burger Wars
As of yet, McDonald’s stands at a net worth of about $163 billion USD and Burger King is worth
$10 Billion. Similarly, McDonalds currently has over 36,000 outlets all over the world,
while Burger King only has 16,000. But, even with a difference this stark,
the two names still dominate the fast food industry when it comes to serving burgers. With
the industry more diverse now than ever before, the fact that both McDonald’s and Burger King have
still managed to remain on the top of the chain is nothing less than remarkable.
Over the decades, both McDonald’s and Burger King have combined their innovative products with smart
marketing tactics to give not just each other, but the whole fast food industry competition like
never before. And with Burger King re-igniting the flames of the Burger War yet again, this rivalry
doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. For more amazing business stories subscribe
to our channel. See you next time!